Some N.Y. health exchange 'navigators' yet to reveal help sites

Sep. 17, 2013

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The state health exchange, N.Y. State of Health, has navigators available. They can be reached at 855-355-5777. For information go to www.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/.

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With less than two weeks to go before New York’s health insurance exchange opens, many organizations in the Lower Hudson Valley that are supposed to guide people through the process have yet to announce key details of how people can get that assistance.

These “navigators” — people trained to help residents enroll in the insurance exchange — are considered key to participation in the Affordable Care Act. The law calls for them to be stationed at easily accessible places in the community so people can get one-on-one help on a walk-in or by-appointment basis.

But with the Oct. 1 opening of New York’s exchange looming, many groups that received taxpayer funds to provide navigator services say they are not yet ready to tell the public where that help can be found.

Unlike Medicaid, the N.Y. State of Health exchange — essentially an online shopping mall for insurance — is open to almost everyone. Residents will pay different prices based on their incomes. Navigators will help people determine whether they are eligible for a subsidy. Coverage starts Jan. 1.

Navigator grants were awarded to organizations in every county to ensure that all residents have access to help.

The Westchester Department of Health was awarded $348,023 in July to provide navigators. The department won’t announce where the navigators will be located “until we have contracts in place with all locations,” spokeswoman Caren Halbfinger said.

The N.Y. State of Health exchange has posted a map on its website showing organizations in each county that will have navigators, but advises residents to “check back soon for additional information.”

Marci Natale, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, which oversees the exchange, would say only that the information will not be available until Oct. 1.

The state this week also announced a free telephone number residents can call for information.

Some groups at least have said what locations will be staffed, if not the days and times.

Navigators with the Rockland Department of Health are finalizing plans to be at locations including the Department of Health offices in Ramapo, Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley, New City Library, Nyack Library, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Louis Kurtz Civic Center in Spring Valley, Community Outreach Center in Monsey and Haverstraw Community Center.

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Young Invincibles, a group that got grants to provide navigators in the region, will have staff at Rockland Community College in Ramapo and Westchester Community College in Valhalla.

In Putnam, the Maternal Infant Services Network, a Newburgh organization contracted to provide navigators in the county, plans to be at the Mahopac library, Planned Parenthood in Brewster and Open Door Health Center in Brewster.

Westchester Disabled on the Move, a small nonprofit in Yonkers, said it will have a navigator at different times at the Grinton I. Will and Riverfront libraries in Yonkers, the Department of Labor in Peekskill, the Westchester One Stop Employment Centers in White Plains and Yonkers, Planned Parenthood in Brewster and Mount Vernon and Putnam Family and Community Services in Carmel.

The day after the exchange opens, a navigator will be in a nondescript office building at 120 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson. That person will be at the office every Wednesday, said Flor Ramirez, program director for health-care access at Retail Action Project, a nonprofit providing some of the navigators in Westchester, Long Island and New York City.